


neither punishments nor rewards

by carolinecrane



Series: Trains [5]
Category: Glee
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-02
Updated: 2011-05-02
Packaged: 2017-10-18 21:50:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/193671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carolinecrane/pseuds/carolinecrane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Will's like a cat with nine lives, but Shannon's not stupid.</p>
            </blockquote>





	neither punishments nor rewards

“William, William, William.” Figgins turned in his chair, fingers steepled in front of him and staring up at the ceiling for a second before he looked at Will again. “What were you thinking? Students drinking on your watch, wandering the streets, engaging in gay matrimony! How could you let that happen?”

“I trusted my kids.”

Will shrugged and glanced over his shoulder at Shannon. He knew it wasn’t much of an excuse, but it was the only answer he had to give. The truth was it hadn’t even entered his mind that they’d pull something like this; the drinking, okay, he probably should have seen that coming, but there was no way he could have predicted a _wedding_.

“Stop being so naïve, William! They’re children, they don’t think of consequences. That is why you must think for them.”

“How are they supposed to learn anything if we do all their thinking for them?”

“He’s got a point,” Shannon said, and when Figgins looked at her Will flashed her a grateful smile. “Those boys made us both a promise about staying out of trouble. They have to learn some time that they can’t break their word and get away with it.”

“Ah, but the girls were perfectly well-behaved,” Figgins pointed out, and Will winced at the look Figgins shot him. “I believe they were your responsibility, Coach.”

“They were only well-behaved because the guys didn’t bother inviting them before they snuck out of the hotel,” Shannon said.

She left out the part where the girls never would have gotten past her, considering she booked herself into the room closest to the elevator and propped her door open until she was sure they were all asleep, just in case any of them tried to escape their floor to visit the boys on the floor below them. Will knew he should be grateful she’d at least kept the girls out of trouble, but mostly it just made him feel like an even bigger failure.

“Anyway, Kurt’s right. Nobody got hurt, and the boys will pay the school back for the bar bill. They’re kids, and they made some dumb choices, but there’s no real harm done,” Shannon added.

“If it weren’t so close to graduation I would suspend all of them for drinking during a school event,” Figgins said. He shook his head and let out a heavy sigh, staring at Will for a long moment before he spoke again. “I should suspend you for the rest of the year as an example.”

Will felt his shoulders slump, but he knew Figgins had a point. It didn’t feel all that fair, but at least it was close to the end of the year, which meant Glee was over, and more importantly, his Spanish students wouldn’t have to pay for his mistakes in their final grade. He nodded and looked up, watching while Figgins frowned at him for another minute.

“However, given the quality of our substitute pool, surely you can’t do any more damage than they could in the next month. William, I am holding you responsible for seeing that the school is reimbursed for the $300 alcohol bill.”

“Of course. I’ll see that it’s taken care of,” Will answered.

He stood up and headed for the door, barely daring to breathe until he was clear of Figgins’ office. When he reached the hallway he let out a sigh, reaching up to rub at the tension that was gathered at the top of his shoulders. He felt a hand land on his shoulder and looked over at Shannon, forcing a weak smile. “Thanks for the support in there.”

“Hey, we were both responsible for what went on in Vegas.”

Will opened his mouth to point out that it hadn’t been her head on the chopping block back in Figgins’ office, and she didn’t have to stick her neck out for him. The sound of footsteps behind him made him stop, and when Shannon glanced past him and frowned Will turned in time to watch Finn walking down the hall toward them.

“Finn,” Will said, frowning at his worried expression. “What are you doing out of class?”

“I went by your classroom and you weren’t there,” Finn said, his gaze drifting past Will to Figgins’ office. “You’re not fired, are you?”

Will smiled, but his heart sped up a little at the thought, because the truth was it wasn’t that far out of the realm of possibility. The look Burt Hummel had given him before he left Figgins’ office told Will that Burt, at least, thought he should be fired. If he knew the whole story...but nobody knew the _whole_ story, not even Finn.

“No, Finn, I’m not fired. Your parents know about the minibar, though. I expect you’ll be hearing about that when you get home.”

“Oh.” For a second Finn just stood there frowning at him, then he cast a quick glance at Shannon and leaned close enough to Will to drop his voice to a whisper. “I didn’t tell them about the other thing, I swear. They still don’t know about that, right?”

Finn was close enough for Will to feel the words against his cheek, his whole body angled into Will and he knew how it must look to Shannon. Even if she hadn’t heard Finn’s question, it was obvious there was something going on, and even though he hadn’t done anything wrong, Will felt himself blush.

“No,” Will answered, fighting the urge to look back and gauge Shannon’s expression. Instead he reached up, his hand coming up to rest on Finn’s shoulder. “Listen, Finn, everything’s fine, okay? Why don’t you go back to class? We’ll talk about the minibar bill during Glee Club.”

“Okay,” Finn said. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, if my mom doesn’t kill me for getting drunk.”

He let out a nervous laugh that Will felt against his skin, and he caught himself just before he closed his eyes.

“I’m sure she’s not going to kill you,” he said, patting Finn on the shoulder one last time before he took a step backwards and let his hand drop back to his side. “Actually I think you have Kurt to thank for smoothing things over. He really put the whole weekend in perspective for everyone.”

“Yeah? Cool.” Finn grinned down at him for another second, then he cleared his throat and flushed a little and looked away. He glanced toward Shannon, nodding and giving her a little wave. “See you, Coach. Bye, Mr. Schue.”

A second later he turned away and headed back in the direction he’d come, and Will watched him walk away so he wouldn’t have to turn around and look at Shannon. She let him get away with it for all of thirty seconds before she took a step forward, stopping next to him and crossing her arms over her chest.

“You want to tell me what that was all about?”

“It’s nothing,” Will said, but when he chanced a look at her he could see she wasn’t buying it. Not that he blamed her; he’d felt guilty since he hung up the phone last night, even though he knew he hadn’t done anything to feel guilty for.

He let out a heavy sigh, shoulders falling and casting another glance in the direction Finn had disappeared. “I found Finn passed out in the hallway on Saturday night and let him sleep it off in my room. I thought considering the circumstances, maybe it was best if his parents didn’t hear about it.”

“Did you tell him to keep it a secret?”

When she put it that way it sounded pretty bad. He hadn’t meant to make it a _secret_ , exactly, but he had to admit that he’d been protecting himself more than Finn when he asked Finn if they could keep it to themselves.

“I suggested that we keep it between us. Only because he seemed so worried when he called last night. I thought everyone had enough to sort out between the drinking and the wedding, there was no point adding Finn’s sleeping arrangements for the weekend to the mix.”

When Shannon didn’t answer Will turned his head to look at her, but before he made eye contact something broad and solid collided with the back of his head.

“Ow,” Will complained, reaching up to rub at the spot where Shannon’s hand had connected with his skull. “What was that for?”

“I figured maybe it would knock some sense into you,” she said, though the look on her face said she wasn’t counting on it. “Why does a student have your number?”

“I gave them all my number last year after that whole mess with them performing drunk at the assembly. I wanted them to know there was someone to call if they’d been drinking and didn’t feel they could call their parents.”

“Do you know how much trouble you could get in just for having a student in your car?” she asked, and Will shrugged, because he knew it wasn’t exactly ideal, but his Glee kids were...well, they were special. It wasn’t like he passed out his number in Spanish class; Finn and the others were a special case, and their parents knew that.

Granted, giving Finn a ride home from a party was a little different than letting him spend the night in Will’s room, but in the end it all came down to making sure he was safe.

“Something going on with you two I should know about?” Shannon asked, and Will blushed hard even though there was no reason for it.

“No, of course not. You know me better than that.”

For a second she looked at him like she didn’t know him at all, and that made Will feel worse than when she’d smacked him. Then she shook her head, and Will almost wished Figgins had suspended him.

“Just do me a favor and try to stay out of trouble for the rest of the year. And the next time Hudson calls you to compare notes, don’t answer.”

She walked away before Will could answer, and he’d never admit it, but he was grateful she didn’t stick around to force him into a promise he was pretty sure he couldn’t keep.


End file.
